Dive Brief:
-
Real estate investment and development firm Oxford Capital Group LLC and partner Quadrum Global have bagged a $170 million loan to build a 56-story, 479-unit luxury apartment building in Chicago, Multi-Housing News reported.
-
The Essex on the Park tower, designed by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture, will feature a mix of studios, convertibles and one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Four penthouse duplexes will occupy the top two residential floors.
-
As part of the project, the historic Essex Inn, adjacent to the new tower, will be expanded from 254 to 271 suites. Work on the hotel portion will start in late 2018 ahead of the reopening planned in 2019, which will occur alongside Essex on the Park’s slated opening.
Dive Insight:
Other developers have recently obtained large loans for luxury residential tower blocks in Chicago despite relatively tight lending conditions. Last month, Related Midwest announced that it had secured a $240 million loan to finance its 70-story luxury residential tower designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood.
In September, crews broke ground on the 98-story, $1 billion Vista Tower in Chicago, which features 406 luxury condominiums and will be the tallest building in the world designed by a woman-owned architecture firm, the Chicago-based Studio Gang.
Work has also begun on developer Crescent Heights’ One Grant Park project in the city’s South Loop neighborhood, according to Curbed. The 792-unit, 70-plus-story rental tower is designed by architect Rafael Viñoly.
Chicago’s riverfront, too, has seen an increase in commercial and residential development activity, with a Lendlease-led joint venture breaking ground in September on the $1.5 billion Chicago Riverline project. The 3,600-residential-unit development is located in the South Loop and on the Chicago River. Its first phase will include townhouses, an 18-story condominium building and a 29-story rental tower.
For more housing news, sign up for our daily residential construction newsletter.
